Citizen complains and something actually happens.

By Staff

June 6^th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

Part 1 of a 2-part news feature.

David Barker delegating before City Council.

The following is a copy of a letter Burlington resident David Barker sent Mayor Meed Ward and the six members of Council.  Barker reports that of the six members of council, only the Mayor responded.   Barker was miffed.

“Mayor, Members of Council

 There has been a lot of discussion in online forums, such as on Reddit and the Burlington Gazette, discussing the horrendous traffic snarls that have occurred over the last few weeks in the city south of the QEW.

There’s absolutely no doubt the daily clogged traffic along Lakeshore Road, New Street and to an extent Fairview Street is currently being exacerbated by the expansion of restaurant patios onto the roadway taking away driving lanes, and by the ongoing roadworks on the Skyway Bridge. In addition, recently there have been traffic accidents on the bridge which have caused even greater congestion.

The discussion in the forums has focused on two areas. The first being where and how to find notifications of planned roadworks and closures in the area. And the second on what remedies there might be to reduce the large volume of transient commuter traffic flowing through the downtown as a shortcut to the bridge.

 I personally have and continue to champion the pedestrianization of the downtown, including the Lakeshore Road / Brant Street intersection.  This would make Spencer Smith Park and the downtown core one unified pedestrian-friendly destination. Pedestrianization of city centers has become a growing trend in North America mirroring city centers across Europe. Many people throw up, and excuse the pun, roadblocks to implementing pedestrianized areas. The common misconception is that making an area pedestrianized means no vehicular traffic access.

The QEW was, at one time a two-lane highway. Time caught up with the road – managing how it is used is something that time has yet to catch up with.

Obviously vehicles need to access because residents who live in the pedestrianized area have vehicles, and because of course businesses need supply access. Additionally of course first responders need to be able to access to and transit across the pedestrianized area. I appreciate this is a longer-term goal and so does not have an immediate impact to reduce or eliminate downtown traffic congestion.

One contributor to the forums has suggested a very simple traffic management solution that is currently used in Toronto

Should you be traveling west along Lakeshore Boulevard during the afternoon and evening rush hours you will find you are unable to access the on-ramp to the Gardiner Expressway at Lakeshore/Jameson because it is closed by the Province/police during that period. Traffic is steered down Lakeshore Boulevard to join the Gardiner at the South Kingsway on-ramp.

The suggestion being made in the forums is to close the Northshore Boulevard on-ramp to the Niagara bound QEW on the Burlington side of the bridge during evening rush hours. And similarly close the Toronto bound QEW off-ramp to Northshore Boulevard during morning rush hours

By closing these two QEW ramps during the rush hours vehicles will no longer have a shortcut through the downtown to their destination. Those vehicles will have to stay on the the QEW where they belong.

 Obviously, to implement these closures, the City would need the assistance and approval of the Provincial government.

 I urge Council to give this serious and urgent consideration. Whilst the current situation is allowed to continue residents are faced with either stagnant traffic sitting idling outside their properties or their residential streets becoming less safe due to the increased volume and speed of the vehicles cutting through.”

A surprise to us – Barker got a detailed response.

Link to the response HERE